Where We End Up
by SnapeLikesMyPatronus
Summary: Vala tries to get Daniel on a date, things don't really work in her favor, but then Daniel finally starts to understand.


Saturday morning at the SGC was exciting. All of the SG teams were given the weekend off for personal time. Vala was quite happy about this as she had many plans in her mind. When she woke up she got dressed in a nice black pair of pants and a tight-fitting black top. She decided to keep her hair down instead of putting it up. She was on a mission today, a mission to get Daniel to go on a date with her.

The cafeteria was full of people getting their breakfast, so Vala had to look hard to see if Daniel was there. Sadly, he wasn't, but Mitchell was.

"Where's Daniel?" Vala stood next to Mitchell, looking down at him.

"Hi to you, too," Mitchel said, taking a bite of his oatmeal. "Danny boy is in his office."

Vala left right away, without even saying goodbye to Mitchell. She was determined. The halls were filled with people getting ready to head out for the day. They all seemed so excited to have a personal weekend off, as if they didn't have one last weekend. Vala wouldn't have minded a personal forever-day off. She finally made it to Daniel's office. Just a lamp was on and there was Daniel, sitting in his chair, elbows on the desk, hands on either side of his head as he was immersed in some book.

"Ahem," Vala fake-coughed, but Daniel didn't look up. She rolled her eyes and did it a little louder. "AHEM."

Daniel's head dropped onto his book. "What, Vala?" he didn't sound happy that she was there.

"I was thinking," Vala started saying as she walked into the room and stood across the desk from him. "We should go have dinner tonight. It's the weekend. It would be fun." She stood there for what felt like forever while she waited for a response. Finally, he looked up from his book and sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes.

"I guess I could use a little break," he put his glasses back on, standing up. "Sure. Let's just meet up top around six."

Vala grinned and hugged Daniel tightly. He pat her back quickly and she let go. "I can't wait," she then ran off excitedly, thinking of what to wear for dinner.

.

~~~x~~~

.

It was five o'clock when Vala finally decided on what she wanted to wear to dinner. She settled on a little black dress, which showed just the right amount of cleavage and leg. She put on a long coat so that it would be a surprise for Daniel. She made her way to the elevators and pressed the 'up' button. Before the doors could close, someone's hand stopped them and they stepped onto the elevator as well. It was Teal'c, dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt.

"Good evening, Vala Mal Doran," Teal'c bowed his head at her as the elevator doors were shutting. "Are you well?"

"Oh, very well, Muscles," Vala couldn't help but grin. "I'm going on a date."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at her curiously. "That is nice."

"I'm excited," Vala couldn't help but do a little jump and clap her hands together. "Daniel is finally going to realise that I'm the one for him and no one else."

Teal'c raised his eyebrow yet again, but said nothing. The elevator stopped and they both got off, walking in the same direction.

"Where are you headed?" Vala asked as they both headed for the door to outside.

"Colonel Mitchell and I were invited to… hang out…" Teal'c obviously didn't understand the term, but said it anyway. "I am not sure where. Colonel Mitchell just said it would be fun."

"Well," Vala grinned as the doors were opened and they stepped outside. "I hope you have a lot of fun."

"You as well," Teal'c nodded, then headed off to his left.

Vala looked around for Daniel and saw him standing next to his car not too far away. She walked over and grinned. He wasn't very dressed up, but she didn't care. She was dressed up enough for the both of them.

"Ready?" Daniel asked, looking at his watch.

"Always am," Vala opened the door to the car and got in the passenger seat. Daniel got in the driver seat and started the car. He drove around the building and stopped just near another car. "What are you doing?"

Before Daniel could answer, Vala heard the back doors open, so she looked back and saw Mitchell and Teal'c getting into the back seat. Her heart sank into her stomach.

"So where we goin', Jackson?" Mitchell asked as he closed the door. "You said dinner but didn't say where."

"I was thinking something italian. Pizza place maybe," Daniel drove off and down to Colorado Springs to look for a place to eat. Vala said nothing the whole way. She felt stupid. She should have told Daniel she wanted to go on a date-date, not a friend-date, let alone with two other people.

Once they arrived at the pizza place, they got out of the car and made their way inside. Vala went from feeling sad, to slightly angry. Mostly at herself, but also at Daniel because he should have known that she was asking him out. She grew very aware of the dress she was wearing under her long coat. She didn't know whether to leave the coat on, or take it off. It was a rather warm evening.

Inside the restaurant was hot. Vala knew she would have to take her coat off. They all sat down and the guys ordered what they wanted, then it was Vala's turn.

"Um," she scanned the menu quickly. "I guess just this calzone."

The waiter took down her order and then left. The guys were all talking about work and a recent mission they were on, but of course they had to come up with code words for things because they couldn't just say "stargate" and "aliens" out in the open. Vala was sweating. She had to take the coat off. She stood up and let the coat fall off of her shoulders, revealing the dress underneath. The three men stopped talking all at once and looked over at her as she sat back down. She was sitting right next to Mitchell.

"Uh, Vala," he muttered, but the others could still hear him. "Bit dressed up for a pizza joint, aren't ya?"

Vala just pursed her lips, avoiding eye contact with Daniel, who sat across from Mitchell. She knew he was looking at her.

"I mean, who wears a dress like _that _to-" Mitchell stopped mid sentence as she kicked his leg under the table, tossing him a look. It took a moment, but he finally began to register what was going on. Just then their food was coming. "Look at that, there's our food!"

Vala sighed with some relief as they were now preoccupied with their food. She took a few bites of her calzone, but her stomach didn't want food right now. "Excuse me, boys," she stood up and headed for the bathrooms.

Vala looked at herself in the mirror. "Idiot," she muttered to herself. "Really stupid. No… men are stupid. Things should be obvious, but apparently they're not…"

After a minute of gathering herself, she left the bathroom only to run right into Mitchell standing outside. He grabbed her arm and stopped her from walking past him.

"Hey," he said quietly, so as not to let the others hear him. "Look, if I had known… it's just, Jackson invited me and Teal'c along."

"Don't worry about it," Vala flashed a fake smile. "You know how Daniel is."

He let her go reluctantly, left standing by himself as she walked off.

Once back at the table, Vala ate a little more of her calzone. Mitchell was back and he and Teal'c were talking now. Daniel didn't have much to say anymore, which was weird for him. Vala didn't want to talk to him. Every time she would re-adjust the top of her dress she would glance over at him to notice him looking away quickly. This brought a small smile to her face.

When they were all ready to go, Vala had to get a to-go box for the rest of her food. The others had eaten everything they ordered. They all walked outside and over to Daniel's car. Vala saw Mitchell stop Teal'c and tell him something as she got into the front seat of the car. Daniel got in the driver's seat and closed the door, but Mitchell knocked on the window. Daniel rolled it down.

"Hey, Teal'c and I are gonna grab a taxi, I've got a couple things I want to show him," Mitchell said, casting a quick look at Vala. "We'll catch ya around."

"Oh," Daniel's voice grew suddenly strained. "Um, okay. See you guys."

.

~~~x~~~

.

The ride back to base was quiet. Too quiet. Daniel spoke up as he drove.

"How was the food?" he asked. Vala knew he was just trying to come up with something to talk about.

"It was fine," she muttered, holding the to-go box in her lap.

There was another long silence until they reached the base. Daniel parked and turned the car off. They sat there for a moment.

"Vala," Daniel started, but Vala shook her head and got out of the car, leaving her to-go box on the dashboard.

"I'm tired," Vala said as she closed the door and headed around the car toward the base entrance.

"Hang on," Daniel grabbed the box off the dash and quickly ran over to her. "You forgot this."

Vala stopped and took the box from him, then looked him in the eye for the first time that night. She loved his blue eyes, they made her feel like she was melting, her legs got all weak.

"Let's have breakfast tomorrow," she said quickly. "Just in the cafeteria, nothing special."

"Okay," Daniel said, sounding like he had been holding his breath. "Sure."

.

~~~x~~~

.

Vala's room was dark when she got there, so she turned on the light and closed the door behind her. Leaning her back against the door, she sighed heavily. She was ready for tomorrow, though. She was determined to get Daniel to like her as much as she liked him.

The next morning she made her way to the cafeteria. Daniel wasn't there yet, but Mitchell was sat at his normal table, eating cereal. She walked over to him and stood there as she had before.

"Yes?" he asked, looking up at her.

"I asked him to breakfast," Vala said confidently. "He said sure. Please don't come over and join us. I'm working on a plan."

"Gotcha," Mitchell gave a thumbs up and went back to his cereal.

Just then Daniel and Teal'c showed up at sat at a table together. Vala groaned and tossed her head back, but then collected herself and walked over to their table and sat down.

"Morning, Daniel," she said sweetly, then looked over at Teal'c. "Muscles."

Teal'c bowed his head, then frowned, looking across the room at Mitchell. Vala looked back as Daniel browsed the breakfast list. She saw Mitchell motioning Teal'c to join him, but Teal'c wasn't taking the hint. Mitchell gave an apologetic look to Vala, but she shrugged and turned around, leaning her arms on the table.

"So Daniel," she started, but Daniel held up a finger as he still read the list. After a minute he looked up at her. "What's your plans for tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," Daniel had to think for a minute, but then he remembered. "The General is sending me to Atlantis to check out some new relics they found. Another member of SG-1 needs to come along, too. I was thinking of Teal'c. I'm sure he could teach Ronan a thing or two about fighting."

"Actually," Mitchell had walked over quickly, then clapped Teal'c on the shoulder. "We've got plans. Take Vala. She's never been to Atlantis." he gave her a quick wink.

"I mean, I suppose," Daniel shrugged. "Might be kind of boring. There's not much to do. It's in the middle of a giant ocean. There's mostly engineers and scientists where we'd be going."

"I can deal with that," Vala spoke up quickly. She was glad Mitchell had come along and helped her get her chance. "I'm sure I can find something to do. Exploring Atlantis in itself sounds amazing."

"Okay," Daniel got his food and flashed her a quick smile. "I've got to get to my office and pack up for tomorrow and go over some work."

Vala watched as Daniel got up and walked out of the room. Teal'c and Mitchell stood there, now both looking at her.

"We did not have plans, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c sounded confused.

"I'll explain later," Mitchell nodded, then said goodbye to Vala as they left.

.

~~~x~~~

.

The next day couldn't have arrived faster. Vala was so excited to finally get Daniel to herself. She stood next to him as the gate dialed out to Atlantis. Once the portal was established, they walked through. On the other side of the gate was a giant room. Samantha Carter stood on the large staircase, smiling at them.

"Daniel," she grinned and came down to hug him. "It's been a while."

"It's good to see you, Sam," Daniel smiled and looked around the room. "How's everything going here?"

"Great," Sam started walking and they followed her. "We've had no enemy attacks for almost a month now, which is a good thing. Some teams found some interesting relics we thought you might like checking out. It's a good bit of stuff, so you might be here a few days."

"That's not a problem with me," Daniel admitted. Vala knew he loved coming to Atlantis.

Daniel and Vala were assigned two visitor rooms, which were side by side. Vala went into hers and Daniel went to his. Vala dropped off her bags and decided she wanted to do a little exploring. As she left her room she saw Daniel heading into another room which was filled with all of the things he would be researching for the next few days. She knew where to find him if she needed.

The halls were very tall, Vala noticed. She rounded a few corners before she realized she was somewhat lost. She tried to find her way back to the room where Daniel was, but she failed miserably. She finally had to stop someone to ask them where exactly she was.

"Excuse me," she stopped a short man with somewhat crazy hair. "I'm not too sure where I am. I came here with Daniel Jackson from Earth, I got kind of lost while exploring."

"Oh, welcome to Atlantis," his Russian accent surprised her. He smiled at her. "I'm Radek Zelenka."

"Vala," she said, smiling and shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Vala," Zelekna pointed down the hall. "You're going to want to head straight down this hall, turn left, then take the first right. That should take you back to the visitor rooms."

"Thank you so much," Vala left and went exactly where the man had told her to go. She found the familiar rooms. She went into hers and relaxed there for a few hours. She didn't really want to explore if it was that easy to get lost. Her stomach started grumbling after a while, so she went to find Daniel.

Of course when she found him he was immersed in a book, while studying an odd artifact.

"Daniel," she said, which startled him and made him look up from the book. "I'm hungry. I'm sure you're hungry. Let's go get something to eat. I saw a mess hall a while ago. It's quite nice."

"Let me finish this real quick," Daniel went back to his book and artifact.

Vala sat in a chair across from him and waited. She clicked her tongue and swiveled around in the chair, then lightly clapped her hands together. She began tapping her feet as she swiveled. When she clicked her tongue again, Daniel cleared his throat. Vala looked over to see him staring at her. "What?"

"Do you realize how distracting that is?" he stared at her. Vala stared back, going silent. Daniel looked back at his book. After a minute Vala couldn't hold still or keep quiet. She clicked her tongue and tapped her foot. Daniel slammed his book shut and groaned. "Seriously? Let's just go."

Vala got up from her chair as Daniel got up and walked out of the room. She had to walk fast to keep up with him.

"I'm just hungry, that's all," Vala said quietly.

"Yeah, well," Daniel shrugged. "I guess I'm pretty hungry, too."

Daniel seemed to calm down as they finally reached the mess hall. A lot of people were enjoying their dinners and chatting happily. Daniel and Vala got themselves some food and found a table. They sat across from each other as they ate. Vala stopped to say something, but someone came up and interrupted her.

"Ah, Doctor Jackson, I heard you were here," the man said, holding a tray of food in his hand. It was pretty full.

"Hey, Rodney," Daniel said, smiling slightly. He continued to eat his food.

"Who's your friend?" Rodney noticed Vala sitting across from Daniel.

"I'm Vala," she held her hand out and Rodney shook it with his free hand.

"You're quite pretty," Rodney said, and Daniel looked up from his food.

"She's a member of my team," he said quickly and Vala noticed something different about his voice. "How's Doctor Keller doing?"

Rodney quickly looked around and smiled awkwardly. "Jennifer is good. Real good. Ah, there she is now. I have to go."

As Rodney walked off, Daniel laughed slightly. Vala looked at him questioningly.

"Rodney has a girlfriend, he shouldn't be looking at you like that," Daniel said, finishing his food.

"Ah," Vala nodded and finished her food as well.

They left the mess hall together, heading back to their rooms. Daniel opened the door to his, but Vala followed him instead of going into her room. He turned around as the door shut and saw her standing there. "Uh, Vala," he pointed at the door. "Your room is out there."

"Daniel," Vala walked closer to him. "Look. I've been trying to get you to see something for a while."

"Vala, I'm tired," Daniel started, but Vala put her hand over his mouth to quiet him.

"Just listen," she spoke quietly. "Honestly, Daniel. This has been really hard for me. I'm just going to say it. I've been trying to ask you out on a date, but I don't think I've been doing it right. I like you a lot, you already know that, though."

"Vala," he pulled her hand away, but she kept talking.

"You know, you're very stubborn. I can't get over how annoying it is, but for some reason I still like you, which is why I'm going to do this," she stepped forward and kissed him quickly on the lips. She knew it startled him, because he stood there not really able to talk for a moment. A really long moment… too long. "Well, say something."

"You should go," Daniel finally said, stepping back from her. "I have a really long day tomorrow. We're both tired."

Vala let out a sigh and turned around, feeling defeated. She had just told him everything she had wanted to tell him, spilled her feelings, and he wasn't responding how she wanted. She left his room and went to her own.

.

~~~x~~~

.

Daniel couldn't sleep. He felt bad. He knew Vala liked him and he was doing everything he could to try to avoid that fact, but now that wasn't working. He kept feeling her lips on his. He had told himself he wasn't going to get into another relationship. They always turned out bad for him.

Tossing and turning all night, Daniel finally gave up trying to sleep and decided to just go and work on the artifacts. He left his room. The halls were only lit by the low blue glow of the lights along the walls. He went into the artifact room and worked for a few hours. People were starting to wake up and make their way to their stations. Daniel would look up every time someone would walk by the door, hoping it would be Vala. He had been thinking about what he should say to her, but he knew that when the time came he would probably just screw it up.

Finally he saw her walk past the door. He got up quickly from his chair and ran after her.

"Hey, Vala," he grabbed her arm once he caught up to her. "Hang on. Listen, uh, I-"

"I'm a little busy, Daniel," Vala said, pulling her arm away. "Samantha invited me to have breakfast with her and offered to show me around."

"Oh," Daniel let his arm drop to his side. "Well, whenever you're done I'd like to talk to you."

"There's nothing to say, Daniel," Vala said, then walked away. He watched her go, wishing he could just stop her and tell her how he felt. But, with the bad experiences he had had with women, he was afraid. After all, Vala did try to kill him on many occasions. She was very secretive and half the time he didn't know what she was up to.

Daniel spent the rest of the day trying to concentrate on his books and the artifacts, but he was failing miserably. He couldn't get his mind off of Vala. He really had no idea what he was going to say to her when he saw her next. After hours of thinking, he finally realized what he needed to say to her, how he felt about her for a while now.

Just as he left the room again he saw Sam and Vala making their way toward the visitor rooms.

"Hey, guys," Daniel said, catching up to them. "Did you show Vala around Atlantis?"

"I did," Sam nodded, smiling. "We had a good time. Anyway, I need to get going. You guys have a good night."

"Night?" Daniel looked at his watch. The whole day was gone. He needed to talk to Vala tonight. "See ya, Sam."

As Sam walked off, Vala made her way to her room. Daniel followed behind her. The door opened and Vala walked in, turning around to face him. "Goodnight, Daniel." She waved her hand over the sensor inside the room and the door began to close. Daniel put his hand between the doors and they opened again. Vala went to close them again, but Daniel's hand was still there keeping them from closing. She turned around and just walked into the room, ignoring him. Daniel walked in behind her and closed the door.

"Look," he stood behind her, but she didn't turn around. He continued. "I don't know where to start, so I'll just go for it. Vala, you annoy me any chance you get, you are frustrating to no end, and you can't seem to leave me alone when I'm working."

Vala turned around. "Real nice, Daniel, but-"

"But," Daniel looked her right in the eyes. Her beautiful grey eyes. "That's just how you are, and I know you don't mean to be annoying and frustrating. I know you like to bother me because you like me. And do you know what? I wouldn't know what to do if you weren't around to do those things. Granted, I'd get tons more done, but it wouldn't be the same. I'm sorry if I tend to lose it and snap at you. I can work on that."

Vala tried to hide the tears that were appearing in her eyes. Daniel stepped closer to her and put his hands on her face, lifting her head up. He looked down at her face and really realized how beautiful she was. "Vala, I've had a really hard time with relationships. Half the time they either die or try to kill me. It's stressful… but I'll take the chance again." He leaned down and kissed her lips softly, his hands now resting on either side of her neck. He pulled back and Vala smiled slightly, wiping a tear away.

"Well it's about damn time, Daniel Jackson," she playfully hit his shoulder. "You're a really tough egg to crack. Don't worry, I'm not going to die or kill you."

Daniel smiled, then kissed her again. She kissed him back and wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping him close to her. Daniel didn't want to let her go now. They spent the night together in Vala's room, kissing and talking… and kissing… it was mostly just kissing and not much talking at all.


End file.
